Saturday’s loss loss to left the manager a little concerned by his side’s inability to string together performances
Zinedine Zidane refused to say he is “worried” after Real Madrid lost to Real Mallorca but has called on his side to show greater consistency.
Madrid’s unbeaten start to the La Liga season was ended at Son Moix on Saturday thanks to a solitary goal from Lago Junior.
Zidane’s side had beaten in-form Granada 4-2 prior to the international break, but his much-changed side struggled to create goalscoring chances against Mallorca as they fell to a defeat that leaves them a point behind league leaders Barcelona.
The Madrid head coach said it is a lack of consistent performances that is holding his side back at present, even if he is not overly concerned by the result.
“The problem is that we have to show every three days that we’re good,” Zidane said. “That’s the difficulty – we don’t do it.
“I won’t say that I’m worried because I don’t like the word, but if we want to win something this season, we need consistency.”
He added: “[I feel] bad because we didn’t play the game we wanted and in the end, starting as we started, it has been difficult. In the second half, we were a little anxious because there had been no scoring chances.”
Madrid were without the injured Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Gareth Bale and Lucas Vazquez, with Luka Jovic failing to impress in only his third league start for the club as Zidane set his side up in a 4-4-2.
Zidane insisted the absences were no excuse for their display as he laid down a challenge to his squad players to step up a show they are worthy of a place in the team.
“The injuries aren’t an excuse,” Zidane said. “There are players who aren’t injured; we have more good payers, too.
“When it comes to their turn, they have to show that they’re at the level to be here. We can’t do anything about the injured players.
“We can’t be surprised by a team playing in their own stadium. We knew what would happen. They surprised us because they scored, but then they backed down and we didn’t find a solution.”
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